PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Appraiser Karen Sampieri examines a gold pocketwatch during Saturday’s appraisal event in Riverhead. The watch was valued at between $400 and $1,000.

G. Greux.

That’s what the hastily scribbled signature at the edge of the faded etching Jose Capitulo was holding spelled. Or, at least, that’s what he thought it spelled.

“Gustave Greux,” he said, as more of a question than a statement of fact. He had done some homework on the yellowed piece of art he and his wife Lorina bought at an estate sale along with a pile of old books. The best result was that Greux, a French engraver from the last 19th century.

A search or two on the Internet had turned up little about the work of art portraying a young woman sitting by a tree, or its potential value.

So on Saturday morning, Mr. and Ms. Capitulo trekked from North Babylon to the Hyatt Place East End in Riverhead to be one of hundreds to have their antique art, jewelry and knickknacks appraised by New York City auctioneers.

More than 500 items ranging from old hockey sticks to silver rings to picture frames were valued as part of the appraisal day, hosted by East End Arts, said the organization’s executive director Pat Snyder.

“It’s been a blast so far,” she said as she surveyed the dozens of people on line waiting for their turn.

The appraisals were done by Heritage Auctions, the same company that was used in some episodes of “Antiques Roadshow,” and each appraiser had a specialty. One was an expert in jewelry, another fine art, yet another a master of coins and rare currency.

Most of those who waited on line for hours to have their heirlooms valued didn’t strike gold at the appraisers table.

More than one set of grandma’s old rings turned out to be just worth its weight in metal, while another golden pocket watch was determined to be average for the time period and worth around $400.

Still, Mr. and Ms. Capitulo were hopeful their estate sale find would net them a healthy profit.

As the pair sat across the folding table in the appraisal room, appraiser Aviva Lehmann snapped open a handheld magnifier and hunched over the etching. She didn’t recognize the name of the artist, and a search through her database revealed no notable matching sales.

GIANNA VOLPE PHOTO | Gary Sohmers, from the PBS show “Antiques Roadshow,” will be at the EHM Rock Art show this weekend.

Pop culture appraiser Gary Sohmers, from the Emmy-nominated PBS show “Antiques Roadshow,” is gearing up for the EHM Rock Art show, which will open at 10 a.m. Friday at the barn gallery at Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport.

Mr. Sohmers will appraise pop culture memorabilia brought in by the public between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday as well as between 10 a.m. and noon on Sunday.

The rock art show, which features hundreds of rock ‘n’ roll items, including signed artworks by Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, will be on display at the gallery through July 8.

All works at the event are available to purchase and Mr. Sohmers said buying rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia is a smart investment in comparison to stocks because he said the return for an autograph tends to be larger than stocks.

Mr. Sohmers became involved in antiques as a child when his father, a traveling salesman, would return home with a cigar box full of antiques that he’d picked up at various stores.

“My dad was really into campaign buttons, so at first I was helping him with that,” Mr. Sohmers said. “We have a large JFK campaign button collection and an extensive Abraham Lincoln campaign button collection, so I got to experience what it was like to find really rare, rare things and learn about them.”

The famed appraiser’s interests changed slightly as a teenager, when he began collecting pop culture memorabilia.

“I discovered, like everyone else who was 13 in the ‘60s, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, girls, cars, you know — campaign buttons became secondary to pop culture for me,” he said.